David Bowie/Young American Sigma Sound Sessions

In 2009, a master tape of David Bowie’s studio session appeared on an online auction, exciting enthusiasts around the world. It was a session tape that contained the early stages of recording the album “YOUNG AMERICANS”, and it was a fact that confused enthusiasts as to whether the recording sound source for the album that should have been owned by the record company was being sold. In any case, it is undoubtedly an extremely valuable sound source, and therefore it did not reach the point of being sold. Now it turns out that the valuable sound source of the masterpiece “YOUNG AMERICANS” is floating in the air, so it’s a big deal. Although it was barely possible to get a glimpse of the contents from the sample sound source made at the time of the auction, the valuable and excellent sound quality content ended up dismaying enthusiasts. On the contrary, the fact that it has been more than 10 years since its appearance and the situation where no further information can be obtained has made it worthy of being called the literal holy grail in the world of rare Bowie sound sources. In 1974, Bowie decided to make a soul music album in America. So he chose Sigma Studios in Philadelphia. He planned to make a soul album at the prestigious Philly soul studio. The recording took place over two days at the studio from August 13th after the end of the first “DIAMOND DOGS” tour. The core of this session was the early takes of the later “YOUNG AMERICANS”, and most of the songs had to be re-recorded, so the master tapes were abandoned, and they eventually appeared at an auction in 2009, so they were called “Sigma Reel”. After more than 10 years of unearthing this extremely valuable sound source, but only excerpts could be heard, the sound source corresponding to “reel 2” of the session held on August 13th was finally unearthed this year. However, it was not easy to get it, and it was in a peculiar (bitter smile) format of 6 analog 7-inch singles. It’s as if they were imitating the official style of selling Bowie’s early demos in a similar style to the analog singles before releasing them on CD. Finally, we can hear the secret Sigma Reel! Maniacs around the world should be happy, but it’s not easy to hear it. Of course, in this day and age, some maniacs immediately dropped it from the single and uploaded it to YouTube, but this time it’s based on a version that a British Bowie researcher carefully traced from the analog single and sent to us, saying, “I would like you to make it available on CD.” The Sigma Reel is finally available to listen to, but the vividness that confirms that Bowie originally wanted to record with a studio live concept, and the way the performance is played by talented musicians is overwhelming. Of course, Bowie is also singing live with their performance in the background, but since it is a complete session stage with no overdubbing, you can experience the realism as if you were present at the studio recording. The album title track “YOUNG AMERICANS” is highly polished, yet has a different dynamic feel from the later version, which is also impressive. And the best part is that the unreleased songs that were only heard in the excerpts mentioned above can finally be heard in full. The unreleased songs “Shilling The Rubes” and “Lazer / The Gouster”, both of which were released in a “missing” state when the previous sound source excerpts were released, were appreciated by enthusiasts, but this time both are fully complete. The latter in particular has a style that is typical of Bowie at this time. On the other hand, it is interesting that the arrangements of both songs are not yet complete compared to the previous album title track because we were able to hear them in their entirety, and it seems that they ended up being an attempt on the first day of the session… It is a phantom unreleased song. After the Sigma Reel part, the tracks recorded are related to “YOUNG AMERICANS” when it was still made under the concept of “THE GOUSTER”, and are unreleased songs and rough mixes that were later released in various forms. These scattered tracks have been released together in the best version this time. Now that “THE GOUSTER” has been released in the “WHO CAN I BE NOW” box, many of the tracks are similar, but for example, “Right” has a rough mix-like difference in that the saxophone of David Sanborn, which was heard from the right side in the “WHO CAN~” box version, can be heard from the center here. In addition, since the Sigma Reel part ends with the early take of “After Today” and the rough mix part starts with a different version of the same song, it is easy to see how the songs were re-recorded and evolved after the first day of Sigma’s session was discarded. The early take of “After Today” is also attractive for its energetic performance, which is typical of the August 13th session, and will surely feel fresh to those who are used to listening to the version of Track 7 that has been heard in the past. In addition, the sound quality has a more analog feel than the current remastered CDs, which is also a rough mix. Since these rough mixes include a string version of “It’s Gonna Be Me,” it is speculated that they were leaked during the production of the special edition of “YOUNG AMERICANS” in 2007. And the last one is the Ava Cherry version of “Sweet Thing,” which also saw the light of day on the 7-inch. As you can see from the date, July 9, 1974, it was recorded as a trial run at Sigma Studios the day before the start of the series of performances at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia, where the live album “DAVID LIVE” was recorded. It is said that about three songs were recorded under Bowie’s production, but when you listen to this, you can tell that she had the tour band play the arrangements from the “DIAMOND DOGS” tour as they were and sing them (the saxophone is clearly Sanborn), so this is also a surprising first appearance sound source. In this way, the holy grail Sigma reel, whose existence has been known until now but has been frustrating for enthusiasts all over the world, can finally be heard. Above all, the sound quality is very excellent, and this super valuable document capturing the starting stage of the masterpiece “YOUNG AMERICANS” takes you back in time to Sigma Studio in August 1974! Sigma Sound Studios, Philadelphia, August 1974 STEREO SBD (74:40) Sigma Sound Studios, Philadelphia, August 13th 1974, Reel 2 01. Shilling The Rubes (take one) 02. Young Americans (take one) 03. Young Americans (take two) 04. Lazer aka The Gouster 05. Young Americans (take three) 06. After Today (take one) Sigma Sound Studios, Philadelphia, August 19 74 07. After Today (take two) 08. Can You Hear Me? (studio chat) 09. Take It In, Right aka Can You Hear Me? (demo) 10. Never No Turnin’ Back aka Right (demo) 11. Who Can I Be Now? (outtake) 12. Somebody Up There Likes Me (unfinished mix) 13. John I’m Only Dancin’ (Again) (outtake) 14. It’s Gonna Be Me (outtake, without strings) 15. It’s Gonna Be Me (outtake, with strings) Ava Cherry Sigma Sound Studios, Philadelphia, July 9th 1974 16. Sweet Thing (taken from acetate, David Bowie on backing vocals and saxophone) David Bowie – vocals Mike Garson – piano David Sanborn – saxophone Carlos Alomar – guitar Willie Weeks – bass Andy Newmark – drums Pablo Rosario/Larry Washington – percussion Ava Cherry – backing vocals Robin Clark – backing vocals Warren Peace – backing vocals Diane Sumler – backing vocals Anthony Hinton – backing vocals Luther Vandross – backing vocals